Archive for the ‘Chevrolet Monza’ tag

Long-time collectors will remember Hot Wheels’ original Chevy Monza model. Launched in the mid-1970s, when the real car was a hot item, it was available in a variety of colors – chrome, green or orange most prominent among them. (Hardcore collectors will be amused by the Indian-made versions of the 1980s and 1990s, with the tampo from a completely different model plastered on the doors.) There was always something odd about it, though. After a history full of hoodless, chrome-engined freakouts with jacked-up rear ends and wild wings, the Monza played it straight. It was just a plain ol’ Monza. Lovely, to be sure, but that carefully cultivated Hot Wheels wild streak was limited only by the tampo hits.

So when Hot Wheels announced, early this year, that a 1976 Chevy Monza would be part of the successful retro-style, metal-chassis Hot Ones series, the general assumption was that it was going to be a fairly faithful recast of the original tool. (They’d done it before, with a variety of vintage models.)

But no! Rather than the meek little stocker, Hot Wheels decided to do their new Monza as a full-on DeKon road-racer, Chevy’s bid against Porsche’s IMSA road-racing dominance of the 1970s. This was a serious racing effort, and some of the great names in road racing had a turn behind the wheel of a DeKon Monza: Al Unser, Horst Kwech, Al Holbert, Chris Cord, Danny Ongais, and many more. And surely it was the specter of these racing greats, and the existence of a racing series that Hot Wheels could easily plug this casting into at some point down the line, that convinced the toy giant to bolt on the Phase 4 IMSA flares and “banana” wing to their version of Chevy’s hatchback. The Bicentennial livery looks like something that could have come out of Mattel’s studios back in the day, and is cleanly applied (and for under three bucks with tax, we’re not complaining), but we’re far more excited to see actual race liveries on those blistered flanks. This is just the beginning.

Hot Wheels’ Hot Ones line should be available wherever Hot Wheels are sold.